EC project "SPREAD - Sustainable Lifestyles 2050 Deliverable 3.2: "EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF. Emerging Visions for Future Sustainable Lifestyles 2050"

Sustainable lifestyles refer to patterns of behaviour shaped by personal and social interactions that are influenced by environmental, cultural technological and socio-economic contexts. Lifestyles that support future sustainable societies will need to accommodate human diversity and reflect different approaches to work-life balance and personal wellbeing. Future sustainable lifestyles support equity, efficiency and sufficiency in order to live within global resource limits. People are supported by systems and infrastructure that enable, maintain and sustain more sustainable ways of living. The SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050, European Social Platform project fills a gap in current research by consolidating knowledge, identifying trends and promising practices, and envisioning possible sustainable lifestyle futures. A roadmap of action strategies for different societal actors will be developed, including 2012-2050 pathways to enabling sustainable living across Europe by 2050. This roadmap will support future research and policy agendas on the EU and national levels. This document presents the project’s preliminary findings. It provides policy considerations from its review of existing knowledge and examples of current promising practice. It presents four alternative and emerging visions of future sustainable lifestyles, and it explores the drivers, barriers and gatekeepers that may help or hinder the proliferation of more sustainable living options.